Helicopter crash in Vietnamese capital's west kills 16, injures 5

A military helicopter crashed in the west of Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Monday morning, killing 16 people and injuring five.

Approximately at 7:45 local time (0045 GMT) on Monday, a helicopter crashed in Hoa Lac of Thach That District during a parachute training exercise, reported Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA.

The Russian-made Mi-171 plane of the Helicopter Regiment 916 of the Air Defense-Air Force Service's Air Division 371 took off from Hoa Lac Airport in Hanoi's western district of Thach That at 7:30 a.m. local time (0030 GMT) with 21 people onboard.

Some 16 minutes later, it lost contact and came down in Hoa Lac village, Binh Yen commune, about 3 km from the airport.

The cause of the accident is under investigation, said the report.

A middle-aged woman told Xinhua at the scene that she saw a helicopter hovering above when she was working at a paddy field.

"It is quite normal to see helicopter hovering above here because there is a military airbase located 2 km away. However, I then felt strange as the helicopter kept flying around," she said.

"I heard an explosion and saw the helicopter crash down to the paddy fields," she told Xinhua.

The eyewitness said she saw three people jump out of the helicopter after the explosion and get burnt.

"After the officials came, around six to seven bodies were pulled out of the wreckage," she said.

"Then I was evacuated from the site by military officials," she said.

At 11:00 local time (0400 GMT), Xinhua reporters saw ambulance vans and military vehicles still coming out from the village site. The entrance to the village has been blocked.

Earlier, Phi Quoc Tuan, Vietnam's Capital Military Region Commander, by telephone told reporters at 9:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) that the accident occurred during training.

Monday 07 July 2014

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=228364

Gas explosion kills 17 miners in northwest China

Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of seventeen people who were trapped over the weekend after a gas explosion at a coal mine in China's western region of Xinjiang, state-run media reported on Monday, just a month after another deadly mine accident.

The latest accident happened at about 8:43 p.m. local time on Saturday when 20 people were working at a coal mine about 120 kilometers (74 miles) from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. Three of the miners were able to escape, but the other seventeen workers remained trapped underground in unknown condition.

Rescue workers began pouring nitrogen into the coal mine on early Sunday morning to dilute the gas concentration, but the process had to continue for at least 24 hours before it was safe to enter the pit. Once the process was completed on early Monday, rescue workers went in and confirmed the seventeen missing miners had been killed.

It was not immediately known what caused Saturday's accident at the mine, which is owned by the Dahuangshan Yuxin Coal Mining Company. The state-run Xinhua news agency said the cause of the accident was being investigated but offered no other details.

Safety conditions at mines in China have rapidly improved in recent years, though they continue to be ranked as the world's most dangerous with 1,049 deaths reported in 2013, according to official figures. The Chinese government reported 1,384 fatalities in 2012, down from 1,973 fatalities in 2011, 2,433 fatalities in 2010, and 2,631 fatalities in 2009.

China shut down scores of small mines in recent years to improve safety and efficiency in the mining industry. The country has also ordered all mines to build emergency shelter systems which need to be equipped with machines to produce oxygen and air conditioning, protective walls and airtight doors to protect workers against toxic gases and other hazardous factors.

One of the worst mining accidents in China in recent years happened in November 2009 when 104 workers were killed after several explosions at a coal mine in Heilongjiang province. More recently, 22 workers were killed on June 3 in a gas outburst at a coal mine near the city of Chongqing.

Monday 07 July 2014

http://wireupdate.com/gas-explosion-kills-17-miners-in-northwest-china.html

Seven killed, nine missing in China landslides

Seven people were killed and nine others have gone missing in two mudslides triggered by flash floods in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Five people were washed away and several houses were flattened last evening in Dongshan Village, according to the county government of Yongsheng.

Three bodies have been found. More than 200 rescuers are searching for the two missing.

Relief goods such as food and quilts have been sent to the affected areas, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

In Ludian County, four people were killed and seven others were reported missing after a rainstorm-triggered mudslide.

Continuous downpour has battered the Ludian County, leading to torrential floods and mudslides in many areas, said the Ludian County government.

Longtoushan and Lehong townships are the worst hit townships in the County.



Rescuers have rushed to search for the missing people.

Local governments have initiated an emergency rescue and allocated relief goods to the disaster-hit regions.

Monday 07 July 2014

http://www.outlookindia.com/news/article/Seven-Killed-Nine-Missing-in-China-Landslides/848545

Identities of 18 Uttarakhand tragedy victims established

Identities of 18 victims of Uttarakhand natural calamity, out of a total of 630 bodies recovered from Kedar valley since the start of combing operations last year, have been established, police said on Monday.

191 persons from different states had submitted DNA samples of their kin, who went missing from the valley during the disaster that ravaged the hill state last year.

18 of those samples, have matched with those provided by Uttarakhand police to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Hyderabad, media cell in-charge of state police, Pradeep Godbole said.

The claimants, who had approached the police with the DNA samples of their missing kin, hail from different states including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

Since the start of combing operations last year, a total of 630 bodies were recovered and disposed of in Kedar valley which suffered extensive damage in last year’s deluge in which thousands were killed and thousands went missing.

“We had sent the DNA samples provided by 191 persons of the relatives who had gone missing after the tragedy. 18 of the DNA samples have matched so far with the ones provided by Uttarakhand police to FSL, Hyderabad,” he said.

The bodies which continued to be found in Kedar valley until recently even a year after the tragedy have been cremated by the police after their DNA sampling and other formalities amid Vedic rituals.

Uttarakhand police have requested families which lost their kin in the tragedy to submit their DNA samples to the cops either by coming to Dehradun or to the police in their own respective states which will direct them to Uttarakhand police.

“We request all such families to come forward and give the DNA samples of their missing kin. This will help us establish the identities of more and more tragedy victims,” Mr. Godbole said.

Monday 07 July 2014

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/identities-of-18-uttarakhand-tragedy-victims-established/article6186583.ece?ref=sliderNews